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Friday, November 8, 2013

Projection

Title:

Projection

Author:

Risa Green

Standalone

Number of Pages:

282

Date Read:

11/6/13

Genre:

Mystery, Fantasy

Synopsis (Found on
Goodreads.com)

When 13-year-old
Gretchen Harris's mother is murdered at Gretchen's 8th Grade graduation party,
everyone in the town of Delphi, California, suspects a power struggle within
the Oculus Society: Delphi's version of the Junior League. Gretchen's best friend, Jessica Shaw, might
even hold the key to finding the culprit withThe Plotinus Ability: the Oculus
Society's jealously guarded secret power to trade souls, which hinges on a kiss.
Gretchen's hope at finding the murderer ends in tragedy when Ariel Miller—the class outcast—stalks Gretchen and Jessica and surreptitiously films them exchanging a
kiss to test if the Plotinus Ability is real, not knowing their motives. The
ensuing YouTube video ("Popular Girls = Secret Lovers") goes viral,
Gretchen's and Jessica's lives are further shattered, and they vanish from
Delphi.

Flash forward two
years later: Ariel is suddenly the most popular junior in town, but wracked
with guilt over what she did to Gretchen and Jessica. When both girls reappear after their
mysterious absence, Ariel finds herself pawn, suspect, and key player in their
scheme to bring the murderer to justice.

My Review:

I like this book and it was a quick read.

The story
alternates between ancient Rome, 2 years ago from the present day and the
present day. There are 4 main characters. Amphiclea who is in ancient Rome;
Gretchen in the 2 years ago from present day and Ariel and Jessica in the
present day. However Gretchen, Jessica and Ariel are in all chapters that don't
have to do with Ancient Rome and the povs change usually after an Ancient Rome
chapter. With these three Gretchen and Jessica are best friends and Ariel is an
outsider at first but years later becomes their friends.

The basic plot of
the story is a murder mystery. Grtechen's mom is the head of the Oculus society
which is basically a status society that wealthy people are in. Underneath that
facade, a few members and I'm talking like 6 total know the real reason that the
society exists. Its to protect what they call the Plotinus ability. Gretchen's
mother is murdered in her own home during Gretchen's 8th graduation party. Both
Jessica and Gretchen are part of the Oculus society but after Gretchen's mother
died, Jessica was told the real reason why they exist and she told Gretchen.
Basically the Plotinus ability is "given" or allowed to be performed
by one member and it was supposed to go to Gretchen. But after the murder and
Gretchen's depression, they decided to give it to Jessica. Gretchen and Jessica
decide to try to use the ability in secret to find out who killed Gretchen's
mother. Gretchen thinks its Ariel, her fellow classmate. In this part of the
story Ariel is an outsider that no one likes. To get back at Gretchen and
Jessica who are mean to her she videotapes the two performing the ritual which
to an observer looks like the two girls are kissing. Ariel then puts the video
on youtube and it goes viral. Jessica and Gretchen disappear and somehow Ariel
become the most popular girl in High school. Fast forward 2 years where
Gretchen and Jessica return to Delphi (they're hometown) and they recruit Ariel
to help them find Gretchen's mom's killer, which is the second half of the
book. The Ancient Rome chapters, which are in Amphiclea's pov, basically give
the history of the Plotinus ability and tells about what happened with
Plotinus.

I found that I
enjoyed the Ancient Rome chapters the best. I liked the story in general but
those chapters were the best ones. They're full of roman culture and how people
lived back then. The murder mystery is good and I was stumped at who did it
about halfway to the book. Then I figured out who was the murderer and it was
interesting to see how the characters came to the same conclusion as I did only
they did it A LOT later on in the book.

I really didn't
like Gretchen at all. She just rubbed me the wrong way. She was one of those
stuck up girls that I always avoided in school because if they started with me
I'd end up being suspended for punching them in the face. Gretchen thinks she
all that and more and that she's perfect. She is even bitchy, on the inside
anyway, towards her best friend Jessica. When a guys she likes flirted with
Jessica she had nasty thoughts and turned his attention away from Jessica to
her. She was really mean to Ariel calling her a loser. Here's a shiny quote
from Gretchen's pov about Ariel: "But there was just something off about
her. And when everyone found out that her mom was a lunch lady...well, after
that it was full blown banishment". Wow really? Not being friends with
some one because of their mom's job? WTF cares? Another thing that bothered me
about her and showed me she was "That kind" of character was on the
very first page of her pov she constantly kept fixing her grad hat because
"It was messing up her blow out". Just...wow. The stupidity. I was
not that dumb and into myself at 13 (their age in the "2 years before the
present chapters"). I just really didn't like Gretchen or care enough
about her that her mom was murdered. Yes it was terrible but I just found
myself not caring at all about finding out who did it or about her emotions
about the whole thing. She believed that Ariel was her mom's murderer which is
ridiculous because Ariel was a 13 year old girl at the time. Shen sent
threatening messages to her and harassed her. She was also "Its all about
me" after the murder, thinking nasty thoughts about Jessica because she
wasn't there all the time. She was just a bitch.

I didn't really
like Ariel either. She was annoying. When we first meet her she is calling out
rude comments during her graduation ceremony at Gretchen's mom when she was
presenting/speeching (lol I made up a word!) about the Oculus society. She was
massively annoying. It's like when your sitting at a movie or a concert or a
game and the person behind you is yelling things that are stupid and you just
want to turn around and deck them. That's how I felt about Ariel. I wanted to
punch her. The she did a nasty thing and posted a video of Jessica and Gretchen
kissing. Fast forward 2 years and Ariel is popular but still unhappy. She
whines so much about how she regrets posting the video, how she never meant for
both girls to go away, how she can't eat and how she sees her school counselor
about her guilt. It was all poor me. Please. Man up and grow a pair. She did
something nasty now she has to deal with the consequences. I had no sympathy
for her whatsoever. She genuinely is sorry for what she did but to me its too
little too late.

I really liked
Jessica. She was bubbly, funny but serious when she wanted to be. She was mean
to Ariel as well but she just ignored her, not be outright mean. She is a loyal
friend who was there for Gretchen through the whole murder and its aftermath.
She included Gretchen in the Plotinus ability although she wasn't supposed to.
She was willing to use the ability, secretly, to help her friend find the
murderer. When the video Ariel posted went out, she left to go with Gretchen
and helped her plan how to find out her mother's murderer. Jessica didn't have
an easy life either. Both her parent died in a car crash and she was living
with her bitchy aunt Michelle and cool step-uncle Rob, who was more like a kid
than a parent figure.

I also liked
Amphiclea. She was very loyal to her friend Gemina who was the first woman to
practice the Plotinus ability with Plotinus. Amphiclea worried for her friend
and worried that she was making a mistake in performing the ability. She helped
Gemina in any way she could.

There was really no
romance in the book. Sure Ariel had a boyfriend Nick and Jessica had a
boyfriend also but there was no focus on that at all. It was all about the
ability and finding the murderer. Which I have to say is refreshing to read.
Its seems like I can't pick up a book without there being some kind of romance
and I'm glad to have a break from that.

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ARC books are provided by the publisher/author/publicist for a review. I do not charge for an ARC or the review for the ARC. I do not receive any gifts or favors for a review whether its positive or negative. All my reviews are my opinions and are written/created by me. I am not compensated in any way for my reviews.